A new coalition of more than 30 environmental, labor, and community organizations is urging New Jersey lawmakers to do more about the threat of climate change and reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Dan Fatton, executive director of the Work Environment Council, said the coalition, called Jersey Renews, is a ray of hope in the era of President Donald Trump. As a candidate, Trump called climate change “a hoax invented by the Chinese” and in the early days of his administration, has implemented a temporary media “black out” at the Environmental Protection Agency and a freeze on new grants and contracts. The president has also promised to scale back government regulations and pull the United States out of the landmark Paris climate accord.
“When we see the news that’s coming out of Washington, it’s fairly horrifying,” Fatton said. “We’ve seen the clampdown on EPA, the gag order on climate, the removal of climate change from the White House website. So, we know that we need states to take strong action if we actually want to address what is a global crisis.”
